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Just Announced Hardware for 5 January 2016

Check out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

Hardware | Donster | January 5, 2016 |

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate – Jack the Ripper DLC Review

Ubisoft handles the hunt for Jack the Ripper with surprising care, but familiar gameplay.

By Tom Phillips @ Eurogamer

Ubisoft’s announcement that it would adapt the murders of Jack the Ripper into a rip-roaring epilogue for Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate rose some eyebrows. How would the developer handle the gruesome murders? Would you play as Jack during them? After Syndicate’s solid main storyline and well-written cast of characters, it was a risky swansong to take on.

Read on…

ASRock G10 Gaming Router Review

Author: AkG @ Hardware Canucks

When searching for an optimal lag-free solution for online gaming, buyers typically go towards wired internet solutions since they tend to offer the best bandwidth and connection uptime. However, with the advent of 5GHz Wireless AC, WiFi has come all that much closer to achieving what gamers need and companies have begun to take advantage of that fact with new so-called “gaming grade” routers. While products from ASUS, Netgear and Linksys are the most visible in today’s market, ASRock is now introducing their own unique option: the G10 Gaming Router.

Read The Review Here

Hardware Networking | Donster | December 31, 2015 |

Just Announced Hardware for 31 December 2015

Hardware | Donster | December 31, 2015 |

Live and let Live – Verdun Christmas Truce

The Christmas Truce has been called in the WW1 FPS Verdun. Join the snowball fights and football matches, sing along with Christmas Carols and make sure to send your friends a Christmas card from the trenches. Watch the trailer here.

Verdun is available now with a 40% Holiday Sale discount. Live and let live

The Christmas Truce has begun in Verdun! From December the 22nd to January the 4th 2016 players will have the opportunity to come together with their friends and enemies on a dedicated winter map. Throw some snowballs, play football for some extra points, write Christmas cards to your beloved ones or sing along with Christmas carols while enjoying this extraordinary scene.

Lorraine, the Christmas Truce map, wraps it all together and gives players the opportunity to win an extra Steam key. When players send their friends and enemies Christmas Cards from out of the trenches, they will automatically participate in a daily give away. Each day three random winners will be picked from the many Christmas Cards sent.

Verdun is also offered at a 40% discount during the whole Christmas Truce event on Steam, Humble Bundle, Greenman Gaming, GamersGate, Games Rocket and Bundle Stars.

A Christmas Truce live stream – www.Twitch.TV/VerdunGame – will be hosted with BaronVonGamez, Squire, PhlyDaily and the Verdun team on the 23th of December at 4PM EST /9PM GMT.

Enjoy the Holidays!

Find out more about Verdun at the games official website.

First-Person Shooters Verdun | Donster | December 23, 2015 |

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate Jack the Ripper DLC & Patch

Source: Blue’s News

The Jack the Ripper DLC for Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is now available, as is a new patch for the latest installment in Ubisoft’s assassination series. The patch notes have all the details on the new version, and the UbiBlog has the rest of what you need to know:

If you’re playing Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate on PC, you can now dive into the macabre, fear-fueled Jack the Ripper DLC and solve the mystery of the Whitechapel murders on your platform of choice. Unfolding (mainly) from Evie Frye’s point of view, the new adventure is set 20 years after the events of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, and tasks you with tracking down history’s most notorious serial killer.

Jack the Ripper is available through Steam and Uplay for $14.99, and is also included in the $29.99 Season Pass along with a slew of other content. Before you grab the DLC, however, make sure you download the 1.31 patch (detailed in full here), which adds Jack the Ripper support, better performance and stability and a number of other fixes, including the following:

Added additional parameter to AC.ini for disabling cloth motion 30FPS limits
Fixed crash in multi-monitor mode in London
Fixed FXAA with enabled MSAA
Fixed changing of display in fullscreen mode issues
Fixed flickering panel in World Map
Fixed various render issues
Fixed several online issues
Minor UI improvements

Action/Strategy Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate | Donster | December 23, 2015 |

Stronghold Crusader 2 Now Content Complete

Final update for the ‘castle sim’ sequel adds new maps, optimizations and single player DLC

Firefly Studios has just released their final content update for Stronghold Crusader 2. The update was announced in a post on the developer’s official website, where Firefly clarifies that no additional single-player content or DLC is planned for the future:

“As a team we’re very happy with the reaction and feedback from Stronghold players over the past year. Stronghold Crusader 2 was an important step forward for the series and we intend to build on that progress in future games. Work has now concluded on post-release DLC and single-player content, but there’s plenty to look forward to in 2016! Starting with the release of Stronghold Kingdoms on iOS and Android, which has been completely redesigned for touch, you’ll hear more about our plans for Stronghold and Firefly. We have lots in the pipeline for 2016 including multiple announcements and new releases, so watch this space!”

Watch the new Mini-Campaigns trailer here.

Free Map Pack

Stronghold Crusader 2 has also been updated with four new skirmish maps:

Ruins – Just like in the very best 80s boxing movies it’s East vs West in ‘Ruins’. The map’s unique setup provides up to four players with a reliable source of Stone, but leave the elevated centre uncontested and even the mightiest walls will crumble.
Mirage – All eight players must cross the great desert to reach fertile grasslands and enemy castles. Be quick! Unlike your typical mirage the aforementioned castles and armies within can definitely kill you, if left undisturbed.
Three Rivers – The turtling player’s dream! Up to three castles stand high atop its very own hill, providing strong natural defences. Resources on the other hand lay scattered about the map in strategically vulnerable locations, so be prepared to fight over those village estates.
The Fork – Your keep is on a mountain at the conflux of two great rivers. This provides plenty of opportunities to make the rivers run red with blood, just like in Revelation 16:4. Venture outwards to discover plentiful resources before testing your castle design with a few AI sieges.

Optimizations

Fixes and optimizations for pathfinding have now been added to the Steam version, with a GOG Galaxy update soon to follow. These changes should reduce the impact of these systems on frame rates and prevent variations in worker productivity during large games of up to eight Lords. Woodcutters were given special attention, given their importance to almost any player economy. Peasants assigned to Woodcutter Huts will now spend less time seeking resources, finding paths to them and generally act with greater autonomy.

A full list of changes can be found in the Stronghold Crusader 2 forum.

Stronghold Crusader 2: Delivering Justice and Stronghold Crusader 2: Freedom Fighters DLCs are now available on Steam.

Strategy and Wargaming Stronghold Crusader 2 | Donster | December 23, 2015 |

ASUS R9 390 STRIX DirectCU III Video Card Review

Author: Grady McKinney @ HardOCP

In this evaluation we have a custom built Radeon R9 390 video card, the ASUS R9 390 STRIX DirectCU III 8GB. It features a factory overclock and the DirectCU III cooling system, alongside STRIX technology for silent gaming. We will compare it to a custom NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 video card, both using the highest overclock we achieved.

Read The Review Here

Hardware Video Cards | Donster | December 23, 2015 |

Just Announced Hardware for 23 December 2015

Hardware | Donster | December 23, 2015 |

Total War: Attila – Age Of Charlemagne – The Light in the Dark Video

Genocidal Tyrant or Saviour of Europe? The Story of Charlemagne.

To mark the recent release of Age of Charlemagne, the biggest expansion yet for Total War: Attila, historian and archaeologist Dr. Paul Harrison takes us through the highlights of the life of one of the most celebrated and feared kings ever known.

Featuring footage from the game, this documentary short covers the often controversial achievements of the ‘Father of Europe’ as he dragged the entire continent out of the Dark Ages and set it on the road to enlightenment and prosperity. From the subjugation of the Saxons and the mass execution of his prisoners, to the widespread establishment of education and literacy, Charlemagne life is an incredible tale, and you can get a flavour of it here.

The Age of Charlemagne Campaign Pack includes a brand new campaign map resplendent in medieval-style artwork and focuses on Europe from the year 768AD. With the introduction of Knights, Housecarls and other new era units, battlefield conflict takes an iconic turn. With over 50 conquerable provinces and new campaign mechanics, a detailed and vibrant geopolitical starting position will offer hundreds of hours of gameplay.

Total War: Attila - Age of Charlemagne is out now on Steam.

Strategy and Wargaming Total War: Attila | Donster | December 22, 2015 |